It remains to be seen how much power will be delegated to third party candidates or whether they can win a majority of seats to become the ruling party, but in a move that has surprised many analysts, the Japan Restoration Party, or Nippon Ishin no Kai (headed by powerful Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto) and The Sunshine Party (led by Shintaro Ishihara) said that they will merge, jointly increasing chances of winning seats. The new party will retain the name Nippon Ishin no Kai. Although Hashimoto has long been staunchly anti-nuclear and promised to abolish nuclear power, Ishihara is pro-nuclear. The new party platform has abandoned the nuclear-free goal, but it will push for energy deregulation, which could decrease the power of the nuclear sector. Nevertheless, the two parties have long been at odds, and some critics doubt whether they will be able to maintain the relationship for an extended period of time. Yuji Yoshitomi, a political journalist from Osaka, mused, “I have doubts about whether things will go well. Their policies are different, and factionalism between the two parties’ supporters will likely prevail.”

Whether or not the election results will even count is an issue up for debate in the courts. Lawyers have already filed suit with the Tokyo District Court, charging that the current voting system, which allocates one Lower House seat per prefecture no matter what its size or population, is unconstitutional. They hope that the court will suspend the upcoming election. Other attorneys are reportedly planning to file 60 separate suits on the day after all ballots are counted, in an effort to have election results ruled invalid.

Meanwhile, tests conducted by the Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center in Japan found tea leaves in Kagoshima Prefecture containing 80 Bq/kg of cesium, far exceeding the government limit of 10 Bq/kg. The discovery is notable in that Kagoshima Prefecture is far from the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and is in the westernmost part of Japan, with the exception of Okinawa.

It is disgusting that they delayed the report until January. They don't want to take responsibility and are waiting on the result of the election....

It is disgusting that they delayed the report until January. They don't want to take responsibility and are waiting on the result of the election. If they said it sat on a fault and had to be shut, then the LDP wins the election and who are totally pro nuclear..... This is a great report yet again, as it highlights the truth that no party in this election is going to end the nuclear energy sector, the Japanese people have no one to vote for.

What is the news on the reactors themselves? Are they being sealed off? Are they being buried? Are they still wide open? Are there pictures of the progress of those reactors? 311 happened nearly 2 years ago, and I'm very interested in the current condition of the reactors! Thank you.

Becky, this is a weekly update of media reports about Fukushima; quite a lot of information has been posted in past updates about the reactors themsel...

Becky, this is a weekly update of media reports about Fukushima; quite a lot of information has been posted in past updates about the reactors themselves, and I encourage you to go back and review them. There's a special section for Reactor Status, depending on how much coverage they received that week. In answer to your question, TEPCO has built a cover to contain radiation at reactor #1, and is currently working on covers for reactors #3 and #4. However, the process is very complicated, because thousands of fuel rods still need to be removed from the facility, especially from the spent fuel pool at reactor #4, where the building is unstable. The rods cannot be removed until they have sufficiently cooled, and even then, they must be covered with water in order to shield some of the astronomically high radiation levels. Because the buildings are so damaged, and radiation has prevented workers from getting inside to find holes, water continues to leak at significant rates. Decommissioning is expected to take at least 40 years.